5F 523 






.P7 
Copy 1 










Bee-Keeping 




for 


^~*>* 


Sedentary 




Folk 




By T. Chalmers Potter 

Glasgow, Delaware 




The A. I. Root Company 

Medina, Ohio 

Publishers 




1908 

Copyrighted by The Interior, Chicago 

Reprinted by Permission 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

COPYRIGHT OFFICE. 

No registration of title of this book 
as a preliminary to copyright protec- 
tion has been found. 

r \a a * rw rv • - APR 11 |»lf 
Forwarded to Order Division _: 

(Date) , 

•-/ I f* 
(Apr. 5, 1901—5,000.) 



Bee-keeping for 
Sedentary Folk 

or for 

Professional People — 

The Clergyman 
The Lawyer 
The Doctor 
The Teacher 

and all others whose duties in 
life render it necessary for 
them to be mostly indoors, 
but who feel the need of some 
suitable recreation in the open 
air which will be at once con- 
ducive to health and remuner- 
ative to the worker. 



Medina, O. 

The A. I. Root Co. 

1908 



RESULTS FROM THE 

DANZENBAKER HIVE 
IN DELAWARE 



Glasgow, Del., Oct. 2, 1908. 
The A. I. Root Co., 

Medina, O. 
Dear Sirs: 

Yours of September 30 is at hand. If you 
print my Interior article, I suggest that 
under the heading, "The Money in It," 
you change the line, "Year's profit from 
one hive in money," to "Year's profit from 
this first hive in money." 

Because, though that is probably a cor- 
rect estimate, it is a very low one, simply 
because the figure is for a beginner on his 
first hive the first year only. I have lived 
here in Delaware, for example, for nine 
years. Thus far, no year has averaged me 
less than one hundred finished sections 
(Danz.) per colony. In 1907 with only 
three colonies, spring count, I had 501 per- 
fectly finished Danz. sections. This year I 
started with five colonies, and had 515 fin- 
ished sections despite the fact that not a 
pound was finished after June 15th, because 
of the drouth. I believe I would otherwise 
have had 800 or 850. 

Yours sincerely, 
(Rev.) T. Chalmers Potter. 



Bee-keeping for 
Sedentary Folk 

p .• or for 

Professional People — 

The Clergyman 
The Lawyer 
The Doctor 
The Teacher 

and all others whose duties in 
life render it necessary for 
them to be mostly indoors, 
but who feel the need of some 
suitable recreation in the open 
air which will be at once con- 
ducive to health and remuner- 
ative to the worker. 



b 






Medina, O. 
The A. I. Root Co. 

1908 



°> 






+J 






to 



There she is, Daddy!"— showing the queen to Papa. 



Received Pronfi 
Cepy-ight Office. 
APRH 1911 



, Publisher's Preface. 

So many inquiries reach us every month 
from professional men and women, from 
clerks, teachers, and others whose duties 
keep them pretty close, yet who have some 
Hme to devote to and a desire to go into bee- 
Keeping, that we were delighted to find in a 
copy of that well-known religious paper, 
The Interior, a few days ago the following 
article on "Bee-keeping for Sedentary 
Folk." It is the more authoritative as it 
comes from a practical bee-keeper of the 
class for whom he is writing. The publish- 
ers of The Interior have kindly given us 
permission to reprint the article, and to the 
many who are seeking information we com- 
mend it. The illustrations used herein are 
from our files, as those in The Interior were 
not available for our use. The accompany- 
ing letters are interspersed to endorse the 
author's statements. Any inquiries regard- 
ing the subject will be cheerfully answered. 

The A. I. Root Co. 

Medina, Ohio, Oct., 1908. 



ilil 



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O 
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First Acquaintance 

My experience with the honey-bee reaches 
through a period of twenty-five years. In 
Princeton I kept a colony of the pretty, cu- 
rious, and useful creatures in my room dur- 
ing my whole time there. I continue as en- 
thusiastic over them as ever, because they 
are a never-ending source of stimulating na- 
ture study, beautiful to look at, wonderfully 
interesting in their operations, provide mer- 
ry recreation in their housing and care, 
stock our larder the year through with de- 
licious honey, and buy all the books in any 
one year that the tastes of a modest minis- 
ter ^and his household demand. These 
should be good reasons why other ministers 
who love nature ought to be keeping bees 
for pleasure, health, and profit— and just as 
good reasons why lawyers and physicians, 
even with homes where there are only the 
smallest of yards or lots, may get gentle but 
wholesome diversion and supply their tables 
with the nicest of all natural sweets. 

Professional people need not only exercise 
but recreational pastimes. Whatever learn- 
ed walk a man may be in, he would be hap- 
pier for keeping a few colonies of these hon- 
ey-makers, curiosity-begetters, mind-rous- 
ers, and devotion-creators all combined. I 
can think of no hobby more respectable, no 
exercise less irksome, no study of nature 
more fascinating, no small bank account 
more readily possessed, than are assured to 
the busy professional who will devote a lit- 
tle time and means to it. I usually limit 



myself to ten colonies. A neighboring 
brother minister has twenty, and disposed 
of nearly 1000 pounds of comb honey last 
year. 

THE IMPETUS TO BEE CULTURE. 

If we live in a close- walled city, we can put 
our colony of bees in the window, up garret 
or somewhere else, and, if need be, can do 
well with them on top of the house. Out of 
sight, sailing their bee-line over everybody's 
head, they fill their hives with the luscious 
product just the same. 

I got my start with bees when a young 
boy. My father was president of a woman's 
college, and among his corps of teachers 
was a professor of natural science, distin- 
guished at that time throughout Ohio. He 
had a great fondness for honey-bees, and 
was the possessor of six colonies. I watched 
him open the hives, saw him secure hun- 
dreds of small boxes of honey containing a 
pound each, observed his veil, his old dog- 
skin gloves, his bee-smoker, found that he 
never was stung either on face or hands. 
When I realized this last my enthusiasm 
bounded, for I had always dreaded a sting. 
The picture of me, when a bee buzzed about, 
was of a boy running away as fast as two 
legs could carry him, wishing for four or 
six, and swinging hat and arms with ex- 
citement .and ludicrous rapidity. I can now 
assure you that you will rarely, perhaps 
never, be stung if you provide against it, 
with no more trouble to do than to put on 
hat, overcoat, and gloves against weather. 

Now, also, that I have learned more of the 
scientific side of bee-keeping, I have ascer- 
tained that reputable breeders of honey-bees 
have eliminated vicious characteristics from 
their strains of them as others have done 
the like with cattle, horses, dogs, and other 
animals, or as strains of poultry, pigeons, 



and song birds have been cultivated for 
feather, shape, note, or other desirable qual- 
ity. I have two colonies of Italian bees that 
will let you open their hive and take it all 
apart, do any thing except pinch or jar them, 
without offering to resent your intrusion 
upon their home— though I admit that even 
the gentle Italian may try to use her sting 
if she is squeezed, and takes it ill if you 
knock her hive or drop with a thug the 
frame she is on. 

During the years of my theological educa- 
tion at Princeton, a young man on the floor 
above the one where I had my room was 
possessed of two colonies of bees, one in each 
window of his apartment. That was a ' ' new 
one " for me. I had never thought of such 
a thing, but quickly worked up to the deter- 
mination of having one in my own room. 
The sills of those windows were very com- 
modious. He had carefully sawed out a 
piece from the lower sash, placed the hive on 
the wide sill where it safely sat, pushed the 
hive entrance up against the kerf in the 
sash, and the process was complete. The 
bees flew back and forth without getting 
into the room at all. We both were ardent 
in the small work, and had great pleasure in 
operating one or two colonies. We talked 
about them, their singular habits, skillful 
performances, and of what, under given con- 
ditions, we could make them do. We open- 
ed the hives, raised the windows to let the 
flying bees out, killed the queen of one col- 
ony, sent down to Georgia for a fine Italian 
queen by mail from a bee-loving physician 
there who raised queens for bee-keepers, 
sprinkled her and the bees of the queenless 
colony with sweetened peppermint water, 
and dropped her in among them. They 
balled her at once. We took our penknives 
and divided the angry host, put on more 
scented water, worked and watched until 



they had accepted her and grown quiet, 
when we shut the hive up for that day. 
w The next day we began observations again, 
to find her fair body gliding with dignity 
and deliberation over the brood-combs, her 
retinue faithfully following her about, every 
head deferentially turned toward her. Oc- 
casionally she stopped; a worker-bee would 
thrust out a tongue from which her lady- 
ship drew for herself honey fresh from the 
other's honey-sac; then she would thought- 
fully pursue her way over the combs, stick- 
ing her head into cell after cell. If empty, 
she at once thrust herself into it, depositing 
an egg. Thus she continued before our eyes 
— a symmetrical lovely little creature shin- 
ing with black and gold bands over her back 
— at the rate of 3000 eggs in a day. In 
twenty-one days we saw her young bees 
about the entrance. We began to read bee- 
books. We took, between us, a periodical 
treating monthly the subject of apiculture. 
When vacation came we put on each hive a 
crate holding twenty-eight one-pound sec- 
tions, such as are sold in groceries, in which 
they were to store surplus — that is, honey 
for us to remove — besides what they stored 
below in the brood-frames for themselves 
and for the support of their young bees. 
When we got back in the fall, we never fail- 
ed of our full crate of twenty-eight boxes of 
honey. We gave it around to professors or 
to friends. One of mine, on one occasion, 
was presented to our much-loved and world- 
known Professor William Henry Green. 
His acknowledgment is one of my auto- 
graph treasures. 

If we had been on the scene during the 
honey season, we should have secured at 
least one crate more of honey; for, on the 
average, I have found that an attentive bee- 
keeper in a small way — that is, say with two 
to five colonies — will generally get two su- 



pers or crates ot the pound sections from 
each colony. The hives I now use are a 
trifle wider than those of the Princeton days 
and take a super holding thirty-two. I sel- 
dom fail, in fair honey-yielding summers, 
to have two of these filled by each colony — 
sixty-four pounds — sometimes more. The 
season for honey harvest is usually short, 
lasting from the middle of May to the mid- 
dle of July in the Eastern States, during 
white-clover and linden bloom. In the 
South and in California it is longer. In the 
Middle and Far West it is extended, and 
bees will store surplus honey throughout the 
early fall. Should we have any sections not 
completely filled with honey and nicely cap- 
ped over, we keep them until the next sea- 
son, putting them into the first crates that 
go on the hives. A few, or even one, of 
these will, after the husbanding of honey all 
winter, coax your pets at the opening of the 
season to go to work for you in the sections. 
Apiculturists call them "bait sections." 

THE KIND OF BEES TO GET. 

While there are different races of honey- 
bees, I have had no experience with any ex- 
cept the ordinary ' ' black ' ' (or perhaps ' ' hy- 
brid, ' ' for these two are not always readily 
distinguished) and the "Italian." The 
blacks are the native American bees, black 
in color, usually ill-natured in disposition, 
but as fine honey-gatherers as any. Hy- 
brids are so called because they are a cross 
between the black and the Italian. Usually 
they may be told by being less black, hav- 
ing some of the bright gold ring marks of 
the Italian; are excellent workers and less 
cross. The blacks cap their honey to great- 
er perfection than any other race, it being 
absolutely white, the honey under the cap- 
pings being even with the top of the cells. 
No honey is more captivating to the eye. 

10 



rn he sole reason why we do not have this 
lee above a A known others is because she is 
charged with ineradicable total depravity. 
Most bees may, by smoke, be instantly sub- 
dued, so that one may comfortably work 
among them, but the blacks are incorrigible. 
For many years the Italians have been the 
ruling race for beauty, business, and mild- 
ness of disposition. 

Besides these three there are others, but 
chiefly the Cyprian, the Carniolan, Holy 
Land, and Caucasian races. These differ 
from the blacks, hybrids, and Italians some- 



"The l-lnd of hive is an important consideration." 

The author's choice is the one shown above, the 

Danzenbaker. 

what in color, size, temperament, and pro- 
pensity to swarm. But at present it is 
unessential for a beginner to know more 
than that the Italians are the bees to have 
and enjoy. 

The kind of hive is an important consider- 
ation. That is, the old skep of our fathers 
can not be used without mental or oral pro- 
fanity of some kind; and as to profit, it is 
out of the question. Then, also, the matter 
of raising comb or extracted honey has some- 
thing to do with it. One hive facilitates the 

11 



production of comb. In another you cait 

best work for the extracted article. The orl 
dinary individual denominates all hivesl 
not skeps or grocery boxes, as "patent 
hives. " He means those actually made by 
skilled hands for the purpose of convenient-j 
ly and profitably keeping bees. 

Modern hives all have frames withinj 
which may be easily removed or exchanged. 
They vary a little in size, but are very simi- 
lar, providing practically the same cubic? 
amount of space for comb-building in the 
frames, in which the bees store honey for 
their own consumption and to raise their 
young upon. Since I am writing chiefly 
for beginners I shall confine my counsel to 
such as keep bees for the raising of comb 
honey in the little one-pound sections so 
salable in the shops, for the reason that the 
average beginning bee-keeper will rarely 
concern himself with, going to the extra 
trouble and expense of raising extracted 
honey (that thrown from uncapped combs 
by the centrifugal force of a machine called 
an extractor) although it pays if one has 
ten colonies or more and has the time for it. 

Ko bee-keeper has tried or cared to try ev- 
ery make of modern hive. I have used four 
— the " Langstroth, " named after Rev. Lo- 
renzo L. Langstroth, the pioneer in modern 
bee-keeping, the first movable-frame hive; 
the "Simplicity," very similar; the "Dove- 
tailed," similar again, but named so be- 
cause its corners were locked by sawed in- 
sets instead of being all nailed. These three 
have brood-frames within of about a size. 
The fourth, which ten years ago I decided 
upon, and believe to be the best hive made 
for the raising of fancy comb honey, the 
greatest amount of it in any one year, as 
well as the best one in which to winter one's 
bees without loss from cold, is the Danzen- 
baker. 

12 



WHAT IT COSTS TO BEGIN BEE-KEEPING. 

Note.— Any discrepancy in the cost figures here 
named will be accounted for by the advance or de- 
crease in price of the articles given since this was 
written. 

Wherever you are— town, city, or country 
— I believe the following table will represent 
about your entire expense for entrance into 
the charming pursuit of keeping bees. It 
is my estimate for a year. The second sea- 
son you will have increase of bees to provide 
for, but your proportional outlay will be 
much less, since some of your outfit is good 
for years, perhaps a lifetime. You will prob- 
ably have one swarm each summer from ev- 
ery colony you had in the spring. You can 
have more if you desire. Your only new 
expense will be the hive and section-crate 
for the swarm, some additional section box- 
es to go into the super, and a little more 
comb foundation: 

One-story hive, Danz. style $1.95 

One section-crate or super, Danz. style — 1.15 

One hundred section boxes for surplus honey ... .75 

One pound extra-thin comb foundation 70 

One Junior smoker 65 

One bee-veil 40 

One more hive for a swarm 1.95 

One more section super 1-15 

Old gloves and old straw hat 00 

One bee-culture book 1.25 

Two-frame nucleus Italian bees and queen 4.00 

A one-story hive is so named because it is 
the lower portion in which the colony is 
housed, raises its young, stores its supplies 
for food. In manufacturers' price lists what 
I have spoken of as a section-crate is often 
called a "super," because it holds the thir- 
ty-two section-boxes for surplus honey and 
is set above the body, the bees crawling up 
into it and going to work. The section box- 
es are narrow strips of basswood, kerfed in 
three places so that each one will fold into 
a little square. Those for the Danzenbaker 
hive (popularly known as "Danz.") when 

13 



folded are 4X5 inches, and the cake of hon- 
ey in them is of that size and weighs a 
pound, a trifle more or less. You press the 
ends together with your hands, thus fash- 
ioning the sections, then place them side by 
side in your super until it is full. It is then 
ready for surplus honey; put on top of the 
body of your hive, the cover having first 
been removed, and then put on top of the 
super. All parts fit each other. As the 
hive now stands, body and super, it is call- 
ed a one-and-one-half story, since the depth 
of the super is one-half that of the body. 
When two supers are on a hive — sometimes 
the case, as you would find later — you de- 
nominate the whole a two-story hive. 

BEESWAX AND COMB FOUNDATION. 

There is no such thing as manufactured 
comb honey. Extracted honey has been 
found mixed with glucose syrup, sugar syr- 
up, or both, a chunk of genuine honey 
dropped into it, and sold in tumblers as hon- 
ey or "honey compound." But no comb 
filled with honey or any other mixture and 
capped over as bees do it has ever been ar- 
tificially made or sold. For years there has 
been a standing offer of $1000 for any such 
product. It has never been and can not be 
claimed, and I wish that every reader of this 
would deny this canard that occasionally is 
foisted upon the public by those who repeat 
what they once heard or read. Bee-keepers 
know better. They are jealous about the 
matter. You may buy honey in sections 
and extracted honey in bottles, cans, or bar- 
rels from reputable dealers with the absolute 
assurance that you are getting the pure 
product of the bees. 

I have noted this in order to make plain 
the fact that modern apiculturists to a man 
use what is termed "comb foundation," 
which is pure beeswax run through heavy 

14 



rollers having dies over their surface which 
stamp the exact size and shape of only the 
base of a worker bee-cell. It is made in four 
thicknesses or weights according to its de- 
signed use. The heaviest is placed in strips 
or sheets in the frames of the brood-cham- 
ber as an aid to perfectly straight combs, 
and to limit drone-cells all we can, since, 
left entirely to nature, the bees will build 
these in larger numbers. Thus we oblige 
them, in drawing out this foundation in 
brood-frames, to build cells in which worker 
bees alone shall be hatched, the amount of 
surplus honey each year depending almost 
entirely upon the hive being full to over- 
flowing of these worker bees that do all the 
storing. If there is one secret of success 
in bee-keeping, it lies in having all your 
hives very populous at the time the honey- 
flow is on„ 

Comb foundation almost as thin as paper 
is used in the section boxes also, to save the 
bees the time they would lose in making all 
that wax and to insure straight cards of 
comb. Of course, since time is money, 
among bees as among men, we shall get 
quicker and finer honey-comb and more 
honey by fastening into each little section 
a piece of the beeswax foundation about the 
size of the section itself. It may be put in 
by hand, though one may buy for twenty- 
five cents a handy little device for doing it 
faster. The bees simply draw it out into 
full-depth cells into which they will hurry 
the surplus honey. Of this for sections 
there are thirty-two sheets per pound. Each 
sheet will cut five section pieces, so that you 
will be likely to use no more than one pound 
your first year. Some bee-keepers, especial- 
ly those who try to proceed on the smallest 
scale of expense, including many beginners, 
use only small pieces of this foundation, 
say one inch wide, three inches long. These 

15 




2i)d 







: . - — --- 



Prize comb honey from Danzenbaker hives. — Note 

the wonderful evenness of outline and 

regularity of construction. 



are known as "starters." But after years 
of trial I am convinced that it pays to use 
the large pieces in the sections. Your hon- 
ey will be fancier in grade, and your crate 
of it will likely be finished and ready to re- 
move from the hive from one to three weeks 
sooner than another in which there were 
starters alone. You can see that this counts 
up fast, since the season for surplus extends 
usually through not more than two months. 



SMOKER, VEIL, 
GLOVES. 

A smoker is 
a nicely model- 
ed hand bellows 
withfire-pot 
and nozzle 
through which 
smoke is blown 
over the bees as 
you lift a crate 
of honey off the 
hive, or into the 
hive entrance if 
you wish to open 

it, particularly if your bees should be at all 
cross. Every beginner will feel safer to have 
his smoker, though experienced apicultu- 
rists often work all day without it. You 
could make your own veil of black mos- 
quito-netting, but I think it best to buy. 
They come nicely made, bound on the 
edges, fitted with rubber cord at the top and 
bottom, gather about your hat and shoul- 
ders tightly, and cost but forty cents. 
Mine has been continuously used for twelve 
years and is yet good. My smoker I have 
used steadily for twenty years. I put down 
no figure for gloves to protect hands. Any 
holeless pair of old skin gloves will answer. 

Not all your first outlay need come at 
once. Buy a book treating of the honey-bee 




The Root Junior Smoker. 



17 



and the raising of honey. Secure it in the 
autumn or winter before you get your bees. 
While reading it and observing the many il- 
lustrations that make the subject simpler 
than I can exhibit it here, you will think it 
all easy, as indeed it is— become so interest- 
ed and enchanted with bees, their ways, 
their honey, and the shrewd means devised 
to secure it readily from them, that you will 
be impatient for the time to arrive when you 
may begin the sport. 

Of the items in the table given above, you 
need pay out in the winter or early spring 
only for Nos. 1, 2, and 10. Your book will 
answer all questions. Nos. 1 and 2 will edu- 
cate you in advance about handling a hive. 
A few weeks before white clover blooms, 
get No. 11; that is, your bees. Also get 3, 
4, 5, 6, and have 9 in readiness. Nos. 7 and 
8 you may secure later, the middle of May, 
to be ready for a swarm likely to come out 
two or three weeks after the honey harvest 
arrives. Of course, if you can spare the 
money it will be best to buy all at once and 
familiarize yourself with each article as you 
read your bee-book. 

WHAT TO DO FIRST. 

There is little to do to get your colony at 
work for you. Purchase your bees from 
some dealer who can send them on the 
sized frames of your hive. He will send 
these frames and the adhering bees in a 
4 ' nucleus box. ' ' They will be tacked in and 
a piece of screen wire fastened over the top 
of the box to insure them plenty of air Put 
on your veil and gloves. You will not need 
a smoker after the shaking-up they have 
had. Remove the wire. Loosen and lift 
out the frames, setting them into your wait- 
ing hive, removing two of the new ones to 
do it. Cut a small piece of table oilcloth to 
fit over the top of all the ten frames, spread 



it down smoothly, put the cover on, set the 
hive where it is to remain, and they will do 
the rest. In the latitude of Philadelphia or 
New York, Cincinnati, or St. Louis prepare 
to fill your super with foundationed sections 
and put it on the hive May 1 to 10, accord- 
ing to the season. My belief is that, to se- 
cure honey in the section boxes under the 
most favorable conditions, they should be 
on the hive at least one week before white 
clover comes into bloom. This is to give 
your bees time to get the comb in the sec- 
tions all built, ready for honey to be rushed 
in the moment clover blossoms appear. 

In case your colony sends out a swarm, 
which it will likely do, shake them off the 
limb or bush where they have settled, upon 
the uncovered frames of your reserve hive. 
They will be at home there in ten minutes. 
Spread the enamel sheet over the frames as 
you did before, and put the cover on. Now 
carry your old colony that sent out this 
swarm to a new place a few feet away and 
put the swarm where the parent colony was 
before. The bees in the fields at the time 
the swarm emerged will all fly in at the old 
stand, reinforce the swarm, immediately 
making it very strong. Put a crate of sec- 
tions over them at once. They have no 
cells in the brood-nest yet, and can not have 
any under thirty-six hours, so that all the 
honey they bring in will go into the surplus 
boxes. They will give you more honey than 
will the old one, since the latter has been 
depleted at the very time of harvest. What 
you lose in honey, however, you gain in 
another colony, for you now have two in- 
stead of the little nucleus with which you 
began two months ago, and can sell either 
of them any day for $5. Thus, if you have 
not time to care for many, you can get back 
a considerable portion of your previous ex- 
pense by disposing of a colony, or several, 

19 




II 




280 pound boxes of honey produced by one hive of 

bees in one season. The quality of honey 

shown is known as "Fancy" — the highest 

class. Produced by Robt. B. McCain, 

Illinois, in 1905. 



m& still have left others that are yielding 
vou a nice income and will again increase. 
[ will say that, if you are fond of carpentry 
and be near to lumber-yards, you might 
make your own hives and supers, taking 
these items off the above schedule of ex- 
penses. Or you could purchase them 
''knocked down" and simply nail them 
yourself. My advice is to buy the machine- 
cut, accurately made articles of the dealers. 
The parts all fit precisely, look better, last 
longer. I will further say that it is quite 
possible to buy a full colony of Italian bees 
in a two-story hive for $5. The apicultural 
journals frequently advertise bargains of 
this kind on account of sickness, death, re- 
moval, or other reasons. But your conser- 
vative breeder of bees, in the business for a 
living, will seldom part with a full colony of 
selected Italians for less than $9. That is 
why I counsel a beginner to get the nucleus 
and let it increase, as it will not fail to do. 
Besides, the experience is pleasant, and 
gives him information it would take him 
longer to secure. 

THE MONEY IN IT. 

If the season for honey is fair, you will 
get one super of thirty-two sections from the 
old colony, two supers (sixty-four sections) 
from the swarm. You may get two from 
the old if the queen is prolific. But w T e will 
count that only as a possible extra. I have 
had three from each. Well, that makes 
ninety-six sections. I have for years sold 
my crop of section comb honey for eighteen 
cents a section, in trade, to a fancy grocer. 
In the East, especially in country towns, I 
believe it can be marketed at about this fig- 
ure, which is a little more than it could like- 
ly be disposed for to the city commission 
men, because your grocer desires to please 
you, his patron, and he likes to advertise 

21 



the handsome sections by saying that HeW 
Mr., or Attorney, or Dr. So-and-so raised 
that. People will ask for it, preferring it to 
what is shipped in. Then, too, the grocer 
loses nothing by breakage, nor does he have 
any freight to pay. 

Ninety-six sections of honey at 18 cts $17.28 

First year's outlay 13.95 

Year's profit in money 3.33 

Outfit on hand, valued at 20.00 

Total net profit $23.33 

The second year will have 192 lbs., worth 
$34.50, and will have only two more hives 
and supers to buy, perhaps two pounds of 
foundation and 200 new sections. You will 
have four colonies from which to get honey, 
your first-class colonies and your several ap- 
pliances to dispose of in case you choose to 
sell. For these alone you would get back 
more than you ever spent. You will never 
sell. See how fast the money mounts for 
the third, fourth, or fifth years. You have 
learned much, had fine exercise, more fun 
than you had any idea of, saved in groceries 
what you can put into books, and your ap- 
proach to the Creator is more adoring and 
reverential than ever before. 



22 



An Unbiased Statement. 

To show that the author is not exaggerat- 
ing the profits of bee-keeping when the con- 
ditions are favorable, we insert the following 
unsolicited letter from a man of unquestion- 
ed integrity. We could secure many more 
like this if we chose to ask for them. — Pub- 
lisher. 

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 
New York, March 11, 1908. 
The A. I. Root Co. 

Dear Sirs: — Enclosed please find my 
check for renewal of my subscription to 
Gleanings for five years. I greatly appre- 
ciate Gleanings, not only for the good and 
plain reading matter, but also because it fur- 
nishes many kinks which otherwise one 
would be unable to find out. These kinks 
have enabled me in the last three years to 
sell from ten colonies on the average over 
$100.00 per year. I donate the honey to my 
church for charitable purposes, and the 
members are eager to buy, because they 
know my honey is absolutely pure. • 
Yours very truly, 

D. A. B. Moldenke. 



The A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio. 

Gentlemen: — Referring to the bees ordered 
for Judge Woods, of Marion, S. C, I beg to 
say that they arrived several days since by 
express, and at Judge Woods' request I went 
over to Marion to assist in hiving them. 



The shipment of hives, etc., from Philadel- 
phia, though badly delayed in transporta- 
tion, reached Marion in perfect condition, 
and we had no difficulty at all in getting 
every thing into shape. The bees them- 
selves seemed to be in perfect condition. 
We found only eight or ten dead bees in 
each nucleus. After my experience with 
the black or hybrid bees which I found on 
my place when I leased it, I was hardly pre- 
pared for the extreme gentleness of the Ital- 
ians — even after all I had read concerning 
them. With the exception of one sting 
which I received by mashing a bee with my 
hand in placing my hand on the bottom of 
the cage, none of them offered to sting. 
They were very quiet, even after thumping 
out those which adhered to the inside of the 
cages. 

With kind regards, and thanking you for 
your attention, Yours very truly, 

Aug. 11, 1908. L. W. McLemore. 



AN UNSOLICITED LETTER FROM A WELL- 
KNOWN AGRICULTURAL WRITER. 

Dear Mr. Boot; — I want to congratulate 
you and your sons, and all others connected 
with Gleanings, on the great improvement 
you have made in this magazine. Its col- 
umns are filled with helpful articles, and 
nothing that isn't of the highest tone ever 
appears, and it is beautiful in its make-up. 
The paper, printing, and pictures are strict- 
ly first-class. The double-page picture in 
the Jan. 1st issue is fine enough to frame. 
It is an educational matter to the young 
people (and we all ought to keep young) to 
have so perfect a magazine come into the 
home. Even the advertisements teach or- 
der — heaven's first law — and neatness and 
harmony. ; T, B, Terry, 

Hudson, O., Jan, 8, 1908. 



HOW 
TO 



The novice in bee- 
keeping usually seeks 
for a simple book on 
bees, and in this he is 
wise. The modern 
text-books relating to bees 
are excellent in their way, 
but most of them are too 
technical for a mere begin- 




ner, however well they may be written. 
ffMMIV A simple book written in clear every-day 
1/ L* L* II language is much better, even if it does 
1% I I w* not treat of quite so many little details 
■ mLtfLil which interest only the professional bee- 
keeper. In this respect M How to Keep 
W^ W*i H^ #1 Bees" fills the bill. The gifted authoress, 
JLM mm M m who is a charming writer as well as an art- 
W\ W^ m^ ^ ist-engraver and bee-keeper, made a start 
rm^mdk\c with bees three different times, hence she 
had the opportunity of finding out for herself 
By the difficulties and trials that beset the beginner with 
ANNA bees. She had no desire to make money with 

DOTS FORD bees, but did so, however, because they pros- 
COM5TOCK pered under her care and skill. For this 
____, . 'reason she writes as an amateur to ama- 
^^ m ' teurs, making no attempt to discuss the 

knotty problems which the expert bee-keeper is interested in. 
The book is written in a charming literary style, easily un- 
derstood, almost entirely free from the technical language used 
by bee-keepers. It is arranged in chapters, and is so emi- 
nently readable withal that any one interested in the subject 
can sit down and devour it clear through, the same as he would 
a modern novel. Every thing the average beginner desires to 
know is discussed, including what to order if you have no bee- 
supplies or bees. The print is large, and some very beauti- 
ful engravings adorn its pages, for the authoress is one of the 
most skillful wood-engravers in America. We can't do better 
than recommend this work to every beginner in bee culture. 
There are twenty chapters in the book as follows: 1. Why 
Keep Bees; 2. How to Begin Bee-keeping; 3. The Loca- 
tion and Arrangement of the Apiary; 4. The Inhabitants of 
the Hive; 5. The Industries of the Hive; 6. The Swarm- 
ing of Bees; 7. How to Keep from Keeping too Many Bees; 
8. The Hive and How to Handle It; 9. Details Concerning 
Honey; 10. Extracted Honey; 11. Points about Beeswax; 
12. Feeding Bees; 13. How to Winter Bees; 14. Rearing 
and Introducing Queens; 15. Robbing in the Apiary; 16. 
The Enemies and Diseases of Bees; 17. The Anatomy of 
the Honey-bee; 18. Interrelation of Bees and Plants; 19. 
Bee-keepers and Bee-keeping; 20. Bee-hunting. 

There is also a bibliography and Index. From a begin- 
ner's standpoint it is a complete treatise on bees. 
Cloth bound (228 pages), price $1.10 postpaid. 

THE A. L ROOT CO., MEDINA, OHIO 



APR ? I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRES! 



002 841 780 9 



